Long and Short

Reported but unvouched for, the following account of two speeches came out of Iowa last week:

Several acres were covered by parked farmers' automobiles, and several other acres were covered by those exhibits which go to make up a county fair. So there was a good crowd assembled, and Senator Smith Wildman Brookhart and Representative Cyrenus Cole were allowed two hours in which to amuse the crowd with politics. Senator Brookhart spoke first. He began to speak on the woes of the farmer and the ruin that was facing Iowa, and became so absorbed that he spoke an hour, an hour and a half, an hour and three-quarters without stopping. Representative Cole saw his speaking time disappearing and knew that, whether or not it was all gone when Mr. Brookhart finished, the crowd would not be in much mood for more spellbinding. When Mr. Brookhart stopped there was less than five minutes left.

Mr. Cole addressed the crowd before it could disperse:

"Maybe, my friends, the Senator is correct in the fearfully gloomy picture he has painted of the future of the Iowa farmer. But I see just one bright ray coming through the dark and forbidding clouds. If we are all headed for dire poverty here in Iowa, thank God we can at least go to the poorhouse in our own motor cars."

With that he let the farmers go.